The 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Unveiled at New York International Auto Show, Will it Come to India?

Hyundai unveiled the 2025 Santa Cruz Pickup at the 2024 New York International Auto Show. This marks the model's official global debut. Previously, the company hinted at the advent of the 2025 Santa Cruz and announced that it would make its premiere at this event. A redesigned exterior, a new dashboard layout, more safety and convenience features, and enhanced capability for the rugged XRT grade make up the primary highlights of the new-generation pickup. Additionally, two fresh paint jobs—Rockwood Green and Canyon Red—along with Medium Grey seating surfaces will be available.

Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, Jose Munoz, President and Global COO, Hyundai Motor Company and President and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America said, "The development goal for freshening Santa Cruz was to give it an even bolder, stronger design. We also wanted Santa Cruz to be more capable, and the available XRT trim delivers all-terrain tyres, front tow hooks, and improved off-road capability. Customers are going to appreciate all the new design details and enhancements inside and out. Santa Cruz is a true sport adventure vehicle". 

Pickup vehicles are quite popular in the US, and Hyundai capitalised on this by releasing the Santa Cruz there in 2021. It was only natural for the firm to unveil the updated pickup truck along with the revamped Tucson SUV at the show as both of them share a platform. 

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz: Powertrain

Mechanically, two engine options are available for the 2025 Santa Cruz Pickup: a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated (NA) petrol mill that generates 191bhp of maximum power and 245Nm of torque, paired with an eight-speed automated transmission. It has a towing capacity of 3500 lbs. The other engine comes in the form of a 2.5-litre TDGI unit, good enough to deliver 281bhp of peak power and 421Nm of torque. It is coupled to an eight-speed DCT. It can pull up to 5,000 lbs. Both models will be equipped with all-wheel drive technology.

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz: Exterior Appearance

The Korean automaker claims that to give the Santa Cruz a more aggressive appearance, its designers created a modified front end with a grille and fascia. As a result, the car also sports a wider stance than before. Moreover, there are new designs for the wheel patterns and daytime running lights. With its front and back fascia layouts, distinctive grille, front tow hooks, and unique 18-inch wheels with 245/60-size all-terrain tyres, the XRT trim is further set apart. According to Hyundai, the revised front fascia offers a greater approach angle.

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz: Features

The new panoramic curved screen setup, which includes a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system running the most recent Hyundai software, is similar to the new Tucson's interior. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. For easier use, real buttons and switches are used in place of all the touch-haptic centre stack controls. The company has revised the instrument panel, air vents, back seat armrest, and steering wheel as well. 

In addition to this, plenty of new tech features on the pickup, which include a fingerprint scanner for car startup, Digital Key 2 tech (for using a phone as a key), infotainment that can receive over-the-air updates, more potent USB-C ports, and a new driver attention monitoring system, are also similar to those of the Tucson.

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz: Launch Timeline

The 2025 Santa Cruz will arrive in US showrooms this summer. Pricing details will be officially revealed closer to the market launch. Given that Hyundai did not launch the previous-generation Santa Cruz in the Indian market, it is unlikely that the 2025 version will arrive here.